Russian media: Moscow-Beijing ties could 'seriously aggravate the American military planning in the Asian-Pacific region'

Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend
a Bilateral Meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse during the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on November 9,
2014 in Beijing, China.How Hwee
Young/AFP/Getty

Analysts believe the relation between Russia and China is getting
more intimate, which might disturb the United States,
Russian media reported.

The Russian and the Chinese navies will have their largest-ever
joint exercises called “Joint Sea 2015 II” on Aug. 28.

The exercises are going to be conducted off the coast of
Vladivostok and through the Sea of Japan.

The military exercises will be carefully watched by Japan, a
major US ally in Asia.

The joint exercises will involve more than 20
ships, Washington Times reported adding that the
operations had increased in “size and sophistications” in recent
years. There have been five joint exercises held by China and
Russia together over the last decade.

Pravda.ru refers to several experts, who believe that the
intimacy between Russia and China was “a marriage of
convenience.” Some other experts believe it could indicate “a
feature of a new, post-Cold War geopolitical order.”

U.S.
Navy ships are underway as part of a group sail with the John C.
Stennis Strike Group.Flickr/US
PACOM

Russia is supplying modern S-400 surface-to-air missile system to
China. According to the Russian news agency, this may “seriously
aggravate the American military planning in the Asian-Pacific
region.”

The agency added the U.S. would find the Russian-Chinese
cooperation “ambiguous.”

“Driving the Russians into the arms of the Chinese...is strategic
foolishness of the first order,” Pravda.ru quoted international relations
theorist John Mearsheimer as saying.

According to the experts, U.S. authorities should give Russia and
China some space instead of trying to break the partnership. The
U.S. should encourage those powers to have more influence in
each other’s backyard, experts said.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin joined a Russian navy
team Tuesday, when he visited the Black Sea along the coast
of the Crimean Peninsula in a small vessel.